Student Body President applauds achievements, broaches issues

Over the course of the semester, the university has faced issues and achieved successes. Student Body President Moneer Kheireddine took his chance with the State of the Student Body Address to remind both the student body and the administration of how the school has developed over the semester.

During his speech, Kheireddine applauded departments’ efforts to offer services for students and achievements made within Student Government (SG), and addressed the issue of pledge deaths at universities across the country.

One of the departments he highlighted was Campus Recreation, which opened The Fit during the course of the semester and saw record numbers, with 190,000 students checking in at the main Campus Rec, according to Kheireddine.

“They brought state of the art wellness and fitness to our students,” he said. “This semester has been one of the most successful with our wellness and our exercise programs. Over 10,000 participants have participated in Campus Rec group fitness classes and record numbers of intramural teams all across campus.”

He spoke on the Greens and Gold Market, which started this semester and is open every Thursday on campus. Kheireddine also said he is working on ensuring the market continues in spring semester.

Kheireddine also brought up the work done by Students with Disability Services (SDS) geared toward raising awareness of issues students face. He said there was a record number of students participating in the department’s workplace recruitment program for students with disabilities and has assisted more students than ever before with exam and tests.

“They will soon be launching their accessible ally program in the spring to ensure all students on campus know of the services available for them through SDS,” he said.

When it comes to SG achievements, Kheireddine highlighted his and Student Body Vice President Shaquille Kent’s push for the National Pan-Hellenic Council commemorative plaza and a trial period for a new printing system.

“We secured over $100,000 to create the commemorative plaza to not only pay respect to the work of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, but to create a space to all USF student organizations to host events, celebrate diversity on our campus,” he said. “While we are currently engaged in trial procedures to fully confirm this funding, it still remains a monumental step forward for our Student Government and our university.”

During the semester, Kheireddine and Kent used Executive Branch funding to create a trial period where students on campus were able to print $3 a day rather than the $2.50 currently offered.

“With the information and data we received, we are now able to fully request the amount for next year and go through the (Activity and Services Recommendation Committee) process to ensure this funding is available to our students,” he said.

Toward the end of his speech, Kheireddine turned to addressing the national issue of Greek pledges dying at FSU, Penn State, Louisiana State and Texas State of what police believe to be alcohol related issues.

“It would be a dishonor of myself as your student body president to not share the steps we are working towards to ensure that, in the state of Florida, our universities and our Greek life systems are creating proactive solutions to stop any more tragedies from occurring,” he said.

Kheireddine said he will be working with Greek life leadership and university administration over the next few weeks to create a dialogue at the state level. Student body presidents across the state will be organizing summits, according to Kheireddine, where they can better learn about the issues and successes universities are having with their Greek life.

“We will take proactive measures to ensure that Greek life here at USF continues to be a place of fostering growth, personal development, lifelong friendships and consistent growth and development for all of its members,” he said. “As I truly believe that many of our Greek organizations here at USF and in the USF community embody this better than any other Florida university system, and we will make sure that we continue to do so.”